UpsidesDownsides
Spin Too firm and underpowered for beginners
Control A tad pricey for some budgetsDurability
Feel

Price: $17.95

If the tennis industry possesses something akin to the formula for Coke, it probably lies in the recipe for Luxilon ALU Power. Despite countless attempts to duplicate or improve it, this string remains the gold standard on the professional tour. When it first started popping up Pete Sampras was so fascinated by how maliciously the ball dived at his feet that he reportedly dubbed it "cheatalon." Hence the surgical precision our team experienced from the backcourt, punctuated by balls that dropped so suddenly they appeared to be in violation of the laws of physics. Contributing to this incredible precision is a quality that separates ALU Power from an earlier generation of polys, namely feel. This exceptional feel provided our team with a heightened sense of the ball, and it earned ALU Power a remarkable score for touch. This fact helps explain why ALU Power was one of the first polys to achieve mass appeal. Indeed, by greatly improving the playability and feel of co-polymer monofilaments, ALU Power has earned its reputation as one of the most iconic strings in tennis history.